So Long

Chapter 6: Secrets

They had barely been back on the plane for fifteen minutes as Coulson was standing in his office, Skye's file in his hands. He wasn't really reading it, though – as if there was much to read in the first place – but kept staring at the young hacker's picture, wondering if he could have been wrong by giving her a second chance. By trusting her to become a part of the team again.

Skye had once called him an excellent judge of character, valuing her when no-one else would, but now he wasn't so sure if that hadn't just been her way of calling him naive. He had told her he believed in giving people second chances after he himself had gotten one, but sometimes he couldn't help but remember the old saying: 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'

Was this the case here? Had Skye played him for a fool? Him and the entire team?

Before he could think about that any further, though, Agent May entered his office without even bothering to knock, a tense expression on her face.

"You already found something?" Coulson asked, knowing that look all too well.

"Yes, and it's not good. Miles Lydon is missing. His signal went dark about a week ago and SHIELD hasn't been able to track him down yet."

Startled by this new information, Agent Coulson put Skye's file back on the table absentmindedly, before he crossed his arms, his expression hardening as he stared at Agent May.

"Why haven't we been informed about that?" he demanded to know, not amused by being kept out of the loop.

"Well, considering how the last mission involving Lydon went for us, HQ didn't want to risk anything. They sent another team, and they have been able to confirm that a small group of men, most likely with a paramilitary background, has been searching for Lydon before his disappearance. The agents couldn't find out what exactly their agenda was, though."

For a moment Coulson's eyes wandered back to the picture of Skye in the open folder on the table and he took a deep breath, trying to make sense of this new development. When he focused back on May, the look in his eyes was determined.

"So he was probably kidnapped," Coulson concluded slowly, "and whatever it is this group needs a world class hacker for, they might just have decided that two are even better than one." He had picked up Skye's file once again and waved it in May's face, but the other agent didn't seem entirely convinced.

"Or, they could have simply recruited him. We already know that Lydon has no problem with forgetting his morals for money and if these people have found a way to disable our tags, that would have been an even bigger motivation for him to work for them."

"Maybe, but not for Skye," Coulson objected immediately. "You heard what Ward said, she was looking forward to having the bracelet removed by us, not by some paramilitary group looking to hire her. And she never cared about money."

"We don't even know yet, if the two incidents are actually related," May pointed out, but Coulson simply looked at her with raised eyebrows and the agent quickly conceded, rolling her eyes.

"Although I'll admit that would have been quite the coincidence, Skye's former boyfriend and her both going missing within a week. What do you want to do with this information?"

Coulson sighed as he tried to think of the best course of action.

"We're not going to tell the team yet. I want them to remain focused on finding O'Leary and his information about Centipede. I'll contact HQ myself, see if I can dig something up."

May simply nodded in reply and turned to leave. She was almost out of the door, when Coulson called after her once more.

"And May," he waited for the agent to turn around before continuing, "we will find her."

"I don't doubt that for a second, I'm just not sure what we'll discover once we do," she replied with a hint of caution in her voice, leaving Coulson alone with his thoughts.

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Ward was busy using the plane's main computer, while Fitzsimmons were hovering over him, both of them talking incessantly, discussing Skye's disappearance.

"Why would she do that? Just leave, I mean. I know she lied to us before, but that was different, she didn't just disappear. And also, her boyfriend was involved that time, and he isn't anymore, right? I mean, he isn't her boyfriend anymore." The engineer stopped only for a second, thinking about his arguments, before continuing hurriedly. "And he also isn't involved this time, so I don't understand why she just left."

"Fitz, shut up!" Ward ordered, pinching the bridge of his nose to fight off the beginnings of the headache he always got when he was exposed to the scientist's ramblings for too long. "You heard our orders; we're supposed to search for Dr. O'Leary, but if you're not going to help with that, you might as well go on to the lab and play with your little robots or whatever you do down there most of the time."

Completely ignoring both the order and the insult, Fitz kept pacing and addressed Simmons once more.

"I just don't get why she wouldn't say anything. She really came around after that whole 'Miles' situation, didn't she? So for her to leave us with nothing but that joke of a letter – it doesn't make sense. It just doesn't."

Realising that he wasn't going to be able to work in silence anytime soon, Ward turned away from the computer table to face Fit, a sympathetic expression in his eyes.

"Look, I know you guys consider Skye your friend, and that you want to believe in her, but you're going to have to accept that you can never truly know a person. Especially not one with as many secrets as her."

Ignoring most of what Ward had said once again, Fitz looked at him incredulously.

"What, so you're saying that you and Skye aren't friends?" he asked, eyeing the agent in surprise.

"Well, not since she bailed on me in the middle of an operation," Ward replied without hesitation. "But I was also her S.O., which means that there had to be some level of professional distance between us. You three just always seemed to get along more... naturally, I suppose."

Fitz smiled a little at that as if Ward had just given him a compliment, but in the end he shook his head negative.

"No, we're all her friends and I'm sure she would never leave you hanging like that, either."

"But she did," the taller agent objected matter-of-factly, shaking his head.

"There's got to be another explanation," Fitz kept insisting, but before Ward could reply anything, Agent May walked into the room, looking as cold and composed as ever.

"Did you find anything yet?" she asked, coming straight to the point.

"No, nothing," Ward replied immediately, instantly focused again. "We're running facial recognition for Dr. O'Leary through every surveillance camera we could find in the city, including traffic and ATMs, but so far we got nothing. As far as I can tell, he didn't even get near our meeting point. But –" he drew the word out slowly, having a hard time admitting what he was about to say next, "and you can believe that I hate saying this – Skye was much better at these things than I am. We could really use someone with her skill set on this."

Without the team noticing, Coulson had just entered the room, startling everyone when he spoke.

"I just got off the phone with HQ and we've actually been discussing the very same thing. That's why they're going to send us some backup, an agent from the counter intelligence department."

Ward felt relieved by this news, as it prevented him from further having to work in a field he wasn't comfortable in. Fitzsimmons meanwhile seemed to be taken completely by surprise, both of them looking a little uneasy.

May on the other hand was watching Coulson closely and that brief look he now gave her pretty much confirmed her suspicion that there was something more to this reinforcement than he was letting on right now. She just needed a moment to talk to him in private to find out the truth.

To be continued...